Taro Logo

Great coworkers, but it's still SpaceX

Launch Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at SpaceX for 4 years
April 15, 2025
Cape Canaveral, FL
3.0
Doesn't RecommendPositive OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Working with incredible and motivated people. Being a part of some incredible launches and overall aerospace history. My position is shift work, so being able to go home at the end of the day and working ~50 hours a week without being pressured to do more (although that is pretty unique to my role at SpaceX).

Cons

Working at a company owned by Elon Musk. A company whose main goal is simply "humans on Mars!!" but seemingly without attempting to overcome a single technical or scientific hurdle to achieve that goal, besides rocket power.

My position is shift work, so without being pressured to do the typical amount of insane SpaceX hours, the trade off is that my schedule shifts around from front half to back half of the week, and from days to nights, making it nearly impossible to have a life outside of work.

And of course, for those in the company who are salaried but not on shift work, there is certainly pressure to do nothing but work.

Advice to Management

Hire more people. Keeping all teams starved of the manpower needed to properly do their jobs is not "being lean and staying hungry"; it is causing capable professionals to burn out due to overwork, and delaying critical developments due to a lack of personnel to support them.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
2.0
Culture and Values
3.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
3.0
Career Opportunities
4.0
Compensation and Benefits
4.0
Senior Management
3.0

Was this helpful?

SpaceX Interview Experiences